This morning I went to a regular haunt of mine for breakfast. It’s a branch of a large company, and their full English breakfast (something I treat myself to now and then) is excellent value, and consistently good quality.

Usually, the people working there are relatively smart, professional-looking people whose smiles are genuine. They all work hard as a team, and the impression I get is of people who care about their customers and have a good time working together. That, together with the reasonable prices and consistent product quality is what gets me back there, time after time. If one part of the jigsaw was to be missing, I would perhaps not be so keen!

This morning, a member of the team that I hadn’t seen before took my order. I noticed that this team member was quite badly groomed, with multi-coloured and untidy hair, tattoos and piercings that were easily visible. I was rather shocked that a ‘professional’ organisation would not have dress and grooming standards, or that they were not being upheld. After that, I tended to have my ‘negative’ head on, so I noticed that my sausage was a little overcooked (and that it had probably been deep-fried, rather than grilled), and that I had to ask for butter for my toast, which is normally served with the breakfast.

So, my questions: Am I old-fashioned to expect people working in a professional environment to look clean and smart? And when they don’t, am I ‘picky’ when I start to notice other areas for improvement?

When I was a front line customer service professional for twenty years, I was expected to look the part, because I was told that first impressions are the most important. I believe that uniform standards and personal appearance are still of the utmost importance in the world of the front line customer service professional.